Bellevue College announced today it will partner with Central Washington University beginning spring quarter, 2015 to bring BC’s successful Autism Spectrum Navigators (ASN) program to the Ellensburg, Wash. campus.

BC created the ASN program in 2011 to support autistic students in accessing college programs and services, including communication with instructors. Students in the program have access to a network of support, including meetings each week with trained peer mentors and participation in group classes and discussions. Other program elements include parent training and support, faculty and staff training and support and community engagement and education.

BC is working with and mentoring CWU to implement ASN program protocols in a University setting to create protocols for dormitory living and other new situations that don’t exist in the commuter-college setting. BC staff will train administrators, Navigation Assistants (peer mentors) and will participate in the CWU family kickoff event, celebrating the launch of the program.

“As a greater number of autistic students enter higher education each year, it is imperative that institutions are prepared with programs that work, and that do not place undue financial burdens on students and families,” said Sara Gardner, ASN program director and instructor. “We have over 200 autistic students on the Bellevue College campus, and we know how to serve them. It just makes sense for BC to share this knowledge with other institutions so that other students can also benefit.”

BC developed ASN with four areas of focus: Executive Functioning, Social Interaction, Self-Advocacy, and Self-Regulation. As students increase their self-knowledge in these focus areas, they also increase their ability to balance college academics and career preparation, as well as life beyond college.

“With this partnership, we will be able to share knowledge to continually improve upon the model and grow with our students,” said Gardner. “We have the opportunity to truly create best practices across the country for autistic college students.”

Gardner says interest in the BC ASN program is growing, and is currently in conversation with half a dozen other schools interested in learning about how the program could be implemented at their respective institutions, with requests coming in regularly from across the country.

]]>http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2015/03/13/asn-featured-by-bellevue-college/feed/0Tim Howard, US Soccer Goalie, Discusses Life and Tourette’shttp://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2015/03/04/tim-howard-us-soccer-goalie-discusses-life-and-tourettes/
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2015/03/04/tim-howard-us-soccer-goalie-discusses-life-and-tourettes/#commentsWed, 04 Mar 2015 22:02:13 +0000http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/?p=1456Tim Howard, goalie for the US Soccer National Team, sits down with CNN to discuss life and Tourette’s. Check it out! http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/25/football/tim-howard-football-marriage-tourettes/
]]>http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2015/03/04/tim-howard-us-soccer-goalie-discusses-life-and-tourettes/feed/0Lydia Brown Wraps Up Disability Pride Month!http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/12/12/lydia-brown-wraps-up-disability-pride-month/
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/12/12/lydia-brown-wraps-up-disability-pride-month/#commentsFri, 12 Dec 2014 22:22:40 +0000http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/?p=1340...more about Lydia Brown Wraps Up Disability Pride Month!]]>October was Disability Pride Month here at BC. Events ranged from technical trainings on accessible documents to the Disability Postcard Project, a collection of postcard-sized art with musings on what disability means. Below are a few examples but you can check out the full blog of postcards, including image descriptions, here.

Disability Postcard #1

Disability Postcard #2

The month was capped off with a talk from Lydia Brown titled, “Beyond the Imagined Normal: Disability, Pride & Culture.” Over 100 people were in attendance and many asked questions or stuck around to chat with Lydia over desserts. We hope you enjoyed the events and be on the look-out for more in the future!

]]>http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/12/12/lydia-brown-wraps-up-disability-pride-month/feed/0Open Letter from a Guide Dog Team at BChttp://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/10/13/open-letter-from-a-guide-dog-team-at-bc/
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/10/13/open-letter-from-a-guide-dog-team-at-bc/#commentsMon, 13 Oct 2014 15:36:07 +0000http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/?p=1270...more about Open Letter from a Guide Dog Team at BC]]>DRC Director Susan Gjolmesli was published today in BC’s The Watchdog with an article on understanding guide dog teams and proper etiquette. Click here to be taken to The Watchdog, or read the transcript below!

Open letter from a guide dog team at Bellevue College

October 7, 2014 by Susan Gjolmesli

On behalf of the DRC Team and my Seeing Eye dog, I would like to welcome everyone back to BC for the 2014-2015 academic year! My name is Susan Gjolmesli and I direct the Disability Resource Center (DRC) for this amazing college. I am someone who is blind and who uses a Seeing Eye dog – a large, gorgeous Golden Retriever to guide me safely and expertly to and from destinations on campus each day. He is my fourth Seeing Eye dog or dog guide. Seeing Eye is a trademark name – a brand since he is from the Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ…the very first school for such service animals – and it is over 90 years old, founded and named for Morris Frank.

It is important for me that you, as a supportive campus community know how I appreciate your support. When you open doors and say, “I have the door open,” that is a big help to us. My dog is young and we are still learning to be an effective team. When a dog guide is in harness, he is working. That is the work ethic, and the dog is never to be distracted in harness. That will sabotage the dog’s training, eventually, if it persists.

I thought I might list a few of the etiquettes here that my trainers and the Seeing Eye educate sighted people about regarding guidelines we must promote to keep our dogs well-trained where the public is concerned: When a dog is in harness he is working. Do not pet a dog in harness. Do not feed a dog in harness – only the person/partner of the dog feeds the dog guide. Do not call, whistle or otherwise distract the dog guide. If the dog is sitting and you wish to interact in some way, first ask the blind person for permission. Be understanding if a request is denied – it will always be for a good reason.

We put our lives in the hands of our precious, beautiful dogs. If someone distracts my dog at the top of a staircase it is like someone who is driving a car has had the steering wheel jerked by someone and loses control – it could be disastrous.

My dogs are all greatly loved – they are not in harness in my office nor at home. They play, have toys, run and frolic – they are just dogs at home! But, they are service dogs who love to work and be with me – keeping me safe and allowing me to be as independent as I can be. Please help us by following the dog guide etiquettes I’ve mentioned. And just one other thing. I know we are sometimes in a big hurry! But before you burst through doors on campus – stop and think…there could be a dog, or a child behind the door you can’t see… it’s pretty painful for all concerned to hit someone with a heavy door.

Have an amazing year! AND be on the lookout for our Disability Pride events on October 30! As well search out the Disability Postcard Project posters on campus and submit yours soon!

]]>http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/10/13/open-letter-from-a-guide-dog-team-at-bc/feed/0Disability in the Watchdoghttp://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/10/01/disability-awareness-month-in-the-watchdog/
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/10/01/disability-awareness-month-in-the-watchdog/#commentsWed, 01 Oct 2014 18:38:03 +0000http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/?p=1235...more about Disability in the Watchdog]]>BC’s newspaper, the Watchdog, interviewed DRC Assistant Director AJ Duxbury for their article on the Fall Open House. The Watchdog also interviewed DRC Director Susan Gjolmesli for their article on Disability Awareness Month. Check out the Fall Open House article here, the Disability Awareness Month article here or read the transcripts below!

Get involved on campus: Fall Open House

On the concourse near the fountain, Bellevue College’s Fall Open House took place Wednesday, Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A variety of upcoming student activities were showcased. Examples included such a variety of organizations as the League of Legends club, international clubs and even local businesses offering storage and housing deals to Bellevue students. The Army teamed up with a local radio station to recruit students and provide music to attendees.

The LGBTQ Resource Center also had a table at the open house. They are a “diversity group focused on the LGBTQ community,” according to member Neco Merk. Merk explained LGBTQ means “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and either queer or questioning depending on who you ask.” The resource center handed out condoms at their booth. They are a “safe place for all people,” added Merk.

The Disability Resource Center had a booth to inform interested students. They are a place for disabled students to receive help. In a message to incoming students, AJ Duxbury explained, “most students don’t realize they can continue to receive accommodations if they had disabilities in high school.” She further added that the resource center is “a very open office” which will “help students in any way they can.”

At the Chinese Culture Club, students had the opportunity to “learn about Chinese culture and language,” according to Jennifer Yang. Their first meeting will a barbecue party on Sept. 20.

“Students, seriously, listen,” is Jack Moore’s message to incoming students. “Bellevue Chi Alpha is not a fraternity, it is not the drama club, nor the photography club. It’s a place for people to come and hang out, and explore their faith, and walk with God, and learn about Jesus.” They meet at noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

“We are a huge college,” attests Chris Attanasio of the Campus Activites Board at another booth. “We’ve got lots and lots of activities going on throughout the year.” Examples include “games, dances and presentations by speakers.” If a club has an upcoming event, they can come to the Activities Board to help promote it with advertising.

“We help students find apartments, get them set up with furniture, and can bundle all their housing expenses into one bill,” explained representative Zach Hammond at the booth of the business CORT. “By doing that ,we can avoid a lot of the deposits they usually have.” They have 12- and nine-month packages available, but can even do them shorter.

Another booth featured a “storage, pick-up, and delivery service,” geared towards students who might study abroad and need somewhere for their stuff. It’s advertised as the cheapest place around. Further information can be found at storrage.com.

The next booth featured a dual Army/radio station setup. The idea was for the radio station to “entertain and share information about the Army and Army Reserve” according to Sargeant Briding. They can aid students “by helping them stay in college and giving them a little extra money to pay for it.” He added, “If anyone is interested, we are located in the Bellevue office off northeast 20th street.”
Ellen Walker was the representative for the International Talk Time booth. They would like “welcome all new students to our International Talk-Time club.” The focus is aiding international students with cultural adjustment. Also, they are a “Christian club” which can “help with any spiritual questions, as well as social questions the [international students] might have.”

Assey Reda of the African Students Association explains “we teach about […] African culture. We have events about African clothing, dance and food. […] During our meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-3 p.m. we talk about African politics and economics.” The club is inclusive and they encourage anyone to attend events. The club represents a broad range of countries including Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. They have members and officers from all parts of Africa. Interested students can find more information on their Facebook page.

The student response was entirely positive. New students Vivenne Chan and Susie Jin may have been new to English but felt the event was both helpful and enjoyable. Another group of students also gave positive reviews. Mick Tsai admitted with a smile: “Our English not that good, but we enjoy [the event]. It’s really fun.” Along with his friends Kevin Ding, Nathan, Danny Peng and Chen Chin, they joined many clubs, like Physics, International Talk Time, and the League of Legends Club. Nearby, Chihiro Ogawa and friends all responded affirmative when asked if they enjoyed the event. However, aside from International Talk Time, Ogawa lost track and “[didn’t] even know” which clubs they joined.

Disability Awareness Month

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. It is held each year as a national campaign to raise awareness about disability employment issues and disability in general. The theme this year is “Expect. Employ. Empower.”

Back in 1945, NDEAM used to be called “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week” lasted only the first week of October. In 1962, congress removed the word “physically” in order to include and acknowledge disabilities of all types. In 1988, congress renamed the campaign to “National Disability Employment Awareness Month,” extended it throughout the entire month of October, and NDEAM is what we have today.

There is a Disability PRIDE event on Thursday, Oct. 30 in the Carlson Theater from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thanks to receiving funding from clubs like the Disability Resource Center, Phi Theta Kappa and Associated Student Government, Bellevue College has the chance to bring the renowned speaker Lydia Brown to our campus from Georgetown University. She will present “Beyond the Imagined Normal: Disability, Pride & Culture.” As a noted intersectional social justice and social model of disability activist, Lydia Brown is published and runs a hugely successful blog called “Autistic Hoya,” which is well-known nationally and internationally. As an autistic woman herself, Lydia Brown supports the idea of “Nothing About Us Without Us” and the LGBTQ movement. The event will mostly revolve around the essence of social and disability justice. “We are okay with what we are and who we are,” stated Susan Gjolmesli, the director of the Disability Resource Center. Please plan to arrive early, because the event is advertised and open to the public. With reception to follow, please plan to stay after the event, since there also might be arrangements for guests to interact with Lydia Brown directly during reception.

Gjolmesli will most likely participate in the “Human Library” coordinated by Saya Horibe, held on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Critical conversations will also involve both students and staff, “topics may include: Disability Face, non-visual disabilities, [and that] Guide Dogs are working—Don’t Pet!” According to A.J. Duxbury, the Assistant Director of the DRC. Movies or short films will also be shown in the cafeteria throughout the Disability PRIDE Month. Specific films are yet to be announced.

The Bellevue College Disability Resource Center has come up with ideas and projects to promote awareness of Disability Month around the campus. Putting a twist on the ongoing PostSecret community art project, the Disability Postcard Project aims to voice ideas of what “disability” means to all students (disabled or not). Through the anonymous postcard arts, students can reveal their own experiences and attitudes towards disability in their lives, on campus and in society. All submissions are due Friday, Oct. 24, by 5 p.m. All submitted postcards will be displayed throughout the campus on the last week of Disability Pride Month, Oct. 27-30.

Interpreters are already secured for Lydia Brown. If you’re interested in attending another event and would like an interpreter, please contact the event organizer two weeks in advance, or as soon as possible. Event organizers, please fill out the Sign Language Interpreter Request Form at the bottom of this page.

]]>http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/10/01/disability-awareness-month-in-the-watchdog/feed/0Counseling Services on Campushttp://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/09/24/counseling-services-on-campus/
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/09/24/counseling-services-on-campus/#commentsWed, 24 Sep 2014 23:00:27 +0000http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/?p=1201...more about Counseling Services on Campus]]>Bellevue College’s Counseling Department, located on the second floor in the B-Building, offers free confidential counseling and consultation services for both students and faculty. Please feel free to contact the front desk at 425.564.2212 if you have any questions.

You may call the Counseling/Advising front desk and ask to speak to a counselor. If a counselor if not immediately available, and it is not a crisis, you may make a phone or in-person appointment. Call: 425.564.2212.

The disability postcard project aims to show the attitudes and experiences surrounding disability in society through anonymous postcard art. Submitted postcards will be displayed in the cafeteria during Disability Pride Month the last week of October and uploaded to Tumblr with alternate text for descriptions.

Submit your anonymous postcard art! Explore the meaning of disability – personal, historical, cultural – using pencils, markers, collage, and other creative methods on a 5 by 7 postcard. See examples near dropboxes for ideas. The DRC will have a craft room available during its Open House on Wednesday, Sept. 17th from 1:30-4:30PM. Stop by B132 to make your postcard!

Drop locations are at Multicultural Services in B233, Academic Success Center in D204, Financial Aid Office in B125, and the Disability Resource Center in B132. Submissions due by 5PM Friday, October 24, 2014!

]]>http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/09/05/celebrate-disability-pride-month-with-the-disability-postcard-project/feed/0The DRC Celebrates the 24th Anniversary of the ADAhttp://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/07/31/the-drc-celebrates-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-ada/
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/2014/07/31/the-drc-celebrates-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-ada/#commentsThu, 31 Jul 2014 15:16:41 +0000http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc/?p=1004...more about The DRC Celebrates the 24th Anniversary of the ADA]]>

On July 24, 2014 the Disability Resource Center, with support from Student Services and the Office of Equity and Pluralism, celebrated the 24th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act! Signed on July 26, 1990, the ADA finally gave people with disabilities their full civil rights – from employment opportunities to housing accommodations, from transportation to telecommunications, and as we at BC all know, access to full participation in higher education. The event was a success with roughly 50 people in attendance learning more about disability culture from the President, staff, and informational slides. Sadly, demonstrations on easily implementable tips for accessible Word documents and websites had to be cancelled due to a campus power outage. But we all still enjoyed the chance to connect with campus partners on the topic of disability justice!

Below is a transcript of the final message from Justin Dart, the man credited with getting the ADA passed. Before he died, he wrote a letter to those fighting for disability rights. This reading closed the event.

Dearly Beloved:

Listen to the heart of this old soldier. As with all of us the time comes when body and mind are battered and weary. But I do not go quietly into the night. I do not give up struggling to be a responsible contributor to the sacred continuum of human life. I do not give up struggling to overcome my weakness, to conform my life – and that part of my life called death – to the great values of the human dream.

Death is not a tragedy. It is not an evil from which we must escape. Death is as natural as birth. Like childbirth, death is often a time of fear and pain, but also of profound beauty, of celebration of the mystery and majesty which is life pushing its horizons toward oneness with the truth of mother universe. The days of dying carry a special responsibility. There is a great potential to communicate values in a uniquely powerful way – the person who dies demonstrating for civil rights.

I adamantly protest the richest culture in the history of the world, a culture which has the obvious potential to create a golden age of science and democracy dedicated to maximizing the quality of life of every person, but which still squanders the majority of its human and physical capital on modern versions of primitive symbols of power and prestige.

I adamantly protest the richest culture in the history of the world which still incarcerates millions of humans with and without disabilities in barbaric institutions, backrooms and worse, windowless cells of oppressive perceptions, for the lack of the most elementary empowerment supports.

I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all.

I do so love all the patriots of this and every nation who have fought and sacrificed to bring us to the threshold of this beautiful human dream. I do so love America the beautiful and our wild, creative, beautiful people. I do so love you, my beautiful colleagues in the disability and civil rights movement.

My relationship with Yoshiko Dart includes, but also transcends, love as the word is normally defined. She is my wife, my partner, my mentor, my leader and my inspiration to believe that the human dream can live. She is the greatest human being I ever known.

Yoshiko, beloved colleagues, I am the luckiest man in the world to have been associated with you. Thanks to you, I die free. Thanks to you, I die in the joy of struggle. Thanks to you, I die in the beautiful belief that the revolution of empowerment will go on. I love you so much. I’m with you always. Lead on! Lead on!

INTERVIEW/HOST: Today is Disability Awareness Day. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed. Where are we, 24 years later? Bellevue College Disability Resource Center employees Susan Gjolmesli, AJ Duxbury, and Colin Kennedy Donovan, say the ADA is a great start but more work needs to be done. Up next they talk about the perceptions of people with disabilities. They impact our workplace, schools and laws. [Light jazz music begins, plays for 6 seconds]

Susan: The ADA is civil rights legislation and it isn’t the end all, be all; there still are fights, there is still discrimination—I know that personally, but it is a good thing because we weren’t protected under laws before. It has helped us immensely in the area of housing and transportation and public accommodation. It has helped in higher education. Where it hasn’t helped, so much, is in the area of employment. In 1966, they started keeping data around unemployment and people with disabilities and, then, the unemployment was over 74% for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, today, it’s the exact same; there has been no change in the unemployment rate for people with disabilities who want to work. So, there hasn’t been any change since the Americans with Disabilities Act. Where the ADA has helped is in people that have jobs, who become disabled, on the job. That’s where the law does have some teeth, and that’s a good thing.

Colin: People recognize that discrimination is wrong. What people don’t do, and I think there aren’t a lot of structural things in place to help people with this, is that it really has to do with attitudes; it has to do with internal, individual attitudes of hiring managers and, you’re like, “Oh my god, someone who’s coming in, who has a disability, it’s automatically going to be harder for them,” without thinking, “I wonder if they thought of some really innovative way to do the job, that I would never have thought of, because I don’t have to do things that way differently? I’ve always done it this way, it’s always worked for me, but maybe this person has great ideas because they’ve done it differently.” People don’t come to it with that idea, they think, “Oh, it’s going to be so difficult for them to fit in here,” and I think those internal attitudes, and thinking about that, is really what it’s going to take to undo the absolutely pervasive employment discrimination and other discrimination people with disabilities face. [Music continues for 4 seconds]

AJ: Thankfully, there have been expanded laws since the original ADA in 1990 that have expanded the understanding of disability, so when it was originally done a lot of court cases, afterwards, started very narrowly interpreting the ADA to be only physical disabilities or visual disabilities, and so subsequent laws have, kind of, opened that up to the original intent and, kind of, spirit of the ADA. Because, in reality, depending on the research, there’s either 80 to 90 percent of people with disabilities actually having non-visual disabilities, so you can’t see that. And when you look at the statistics that 1 in 5 people have a disability, that means there are plenty of people out there that have disabilities that we can’t see, and thankfully the laws, after the ADA, expanding it, allowed for those people to be covered as well. [Music continues for 4 seconds]

Colin: It’s interesting because, while the ADA is incredibly important, it really is based on the deficit model. In order to, for example, to qualify for accommodations in college, you have to have a medical diagnosis saying, ‘You’re deficient in this way, and now we can accommodate you,’ right? That’s the way our structures are designed as a whole, so we’re steeped in the medical model that says, ‘We, as non-disabled people, have deemed You to be deficient in this way and now you have a diagnosis and that means…’ So, but, in terms of a social justice model of disability, that looks at disability or someone’s bodily differences (bodily, cognitive, or psychological differences) as impairments—just ways that your bodies work differently than what is considered ‘normal’—and the disability is actually societal. A good example that I like to use that, really, I think, points out the absurdity of what’s considered disabled and what isn’t is that glasses are a completely societally acceptable assistive device; no one says, ‘Oh my god, they have glasses! They can’t see! Oh my god, are they ok?’ Whereas, someone uses a wheelchair, and it’s a ‘thing,’ you know, but nobody thinks twice about glasses and that’s because that’s a societally accepted assistive device. [Music continues for 4 seconds]

Colin: The ADA is wonderful, it’s a great place to start, but there’s a lot more to be done in terms of the societal attitudes and the structural inequalities that are in place in society that the ADA really isn’t equipped to address. So, to me, there’s always more work to be done. And, also in terms of social justice, I’m really passionate about looking at the ways that various identities fit in to social justice, so that disability isn’t always thought of as a ‘white’ issue or, you know, an issue just dealing with men. I’m very conscious of anti-racist politics, and LGBTQ issues, and poverty; all of these things affect people with disabilities as well. [Music continues for 7 seconds]

HOST: That was Bellevue College Disability Resource Center employees Colin Kennedy Donovan, AJ Duxbury, and Susan Gjolmesli interviewed by KBCS News Director Sonya Green. BC’s Disability Resource Center celebrates the passage of the ADA with an event on Thursday July 24th in the Bellevue College art gallery. More information is available online at bellevuecollege.edu/drc.

HOST: We observe disability via disability awareness movement this week with Bellevue College Disability Resource Center director Susan Gjolmesli. Susan shares her personal story and gives some history about the disability justice movement. [Music continues for 18 seconds with a fade out and in again]

Susan: I have been legally blind all my life, I was born with a genetic disorder called Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is progressive and it does cause, ultimately, total blindness. I’ve never had normal sight. I grew up in a very small, rural community. Going to school, there weren’t any accommodations, we just had to figure stuff out by ourselves and, I will say, the human animal is very innovative and will compensate and accommodate for themselves until they can’t. For a lot of people, and media included, there isn’t a whole lot of focus on disability. I really, truly believe in my heart that, and in my brain, actually, that people aren’t comfortable discussing disability issues. They are very uneducated, there aren’t disability studies like there are women’s studies, LGBTQ studies, racial and ethnicity studies and I don’t know why that is—it’s fascinating history, it’s very interesting and compelling. That needs to happen, people need to understand and know about disability history as it relates to eugenics and the industrial revolution, and, you know, all the things that are so fascinating, who our role models and heroes are. Nobody knows who Ed Brown is, very few people know who Justin Dart is. Everybody knows who Helen Keller is but, really, Helen Keller wasn’t an activist. She was a very nice, smart person and her story is very compelling, but she really did nothing to propel a movement forward, so let’s get to know who Kenneth Jernigan is, you know, who I. King Jordan is, you know; who are these people? People don’t know, they don’t know their history. They don’t know the awfulness of the eugenics movement—how we can prevent things like that from happening again, and when abuses happen in the disability community, the media doesn’t focus any energy on it, they don’t shine a spotlight on it and say, “How outrageous, this has to stop!” We don’t get the ‘ink’ that other movements do. Well, Justin Dart, he’s actually kind of nicknamed the Martin Luther King of the disability movement. He gathered testimony and did a lot of work around developing the ADA. Ed brown was a student at UC Berkley, actually, years ago and he was responsible for the huge sit-in. And the commissioner Califano’s office that developed, and actually forced the signing of, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; fabulous man. He died maybe a year, a year-and-a-half; two years ago at the max. Imagine: getting accepted to a college, showing up, and then being forced to live in the health center because you have a disability? That’s what happened to Ed Brown and others like him in the pact that did the 50-something day sit-in in the office of DSHS. *light chuckle* Califano’s office, that’s a story in, and of, itself that is a very powerful story that people don’t know about and it’s an amazing story. Kenneth Jernigan was involved with the National Federation of the Blind, he was their leader for several years. An incredible man who said, ‘Yes, blind people can.” NFB is the National Federation of the Blind, is a huge powerful lobby, and have been responsible for a lot of really remarkable legislation and for a long time, for instance, people who were blind couldn’t even purchase insurance—health insurance. They changed that. They’ve just done so much good over the years, they’re incredible. So many of the attitudes out there have a lot to do with there’s something ‘wrong’ with people with disabilities. I’d like to challenge that way of thinking. That’s a medical model. People want to fix us. We don’t need fixing, society needs fixing. The barriers come from society, including attitudes. If the barriers can be addressed, then we can live in our world together and promote our talents, gifts, and abilities—which we have many. [Music continues for about 9 seconds]

HOST: That was Bellevue College Disability Resource Center director Susan Gjolmesli. I interviewed her last week. Bellevue College’s Disability Resource Center celebrates the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act with an event on Thursday, July 24th in the Bellevue College art gallery. More information is available at bellevuecollege.edu.

INTERVIEWER/HOST: Right now, turning to our week’s series: 24 years ago, this month, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. The law gives people with disabilities full civil rights and, while this was very much needed, people with disabilities still face larger societal issues. Bellevue College disability resource center assistant director AJ Duxbury talks about how communities view people with impairments. [8 second silence, light funky jazz begins to play in the background]

AJ: My awareness to the world of disability really came when my mom remarried and one of my step-brothers, he was only a month older than I was, would have been considered ‘severely disabled.’ I speak in the past-tense because he has since passed on, but he drowned when he was three and was resuscitated and had severe brain damage and then, while he was recuperating in the hospital, something was going around so he spent a lot longer in the hospital than he should have. So, he was in a bed, couldn’t communicate clearly, we fed him through a tube– and it was fascinating in kind of a horrifying way, to have friends and people come over and watch their reaction to him and people just being aghast and explaining to me that they thought that, you know, “Why would you wanna live that way,” and “That’s horrific,” and “He’s not really a person,” and I would sit there and go, “I don’t think you get this, like, no he can’t communicate the same way that we do right now and, with that ease, but I know his favorite musical artist, I know his favorite actors, I know his favorite jokes, so that I can go in and I can always get him to laugh.” And this idea that just because he operated differently and he had a number of disabilities—that he wasn’t a person and shouldn’t be respected and valued as a person—was just foreign to me. That’s what started my awareness of how people with disabilities are treated, both in one on one interactions and in society. So then, in that awareness, I started seeing more and more things and I would pick up on things in media and be like, “Oh my gosh, you are totally pitying this person in a wheelchair,” when for them, that’s their life; they’re able to do a million things but, for some reason, we still pity them. And so that awareness, then, led into seeking out educational opportunities which then led to my graduate certificate in disability and diversity studies. [Funky light jazz continues; volume increases slightly for 3 seconds]

AJ: I believe in the social model of disability, as opposed to the medical model. So, very briefly, the medical model is the idea that something is inherently wrong with the person with a disability, so, “Society is fine but You, you’re different,” and, “[the disability] It’s wrong with You and, if possible, it needs to be fixed,” whereas the social model of disability says, “We have created a society with certain beliefs and certain structures that then create a disability.” It doesn’t say, “No, someone’s not physically impaired,” but the ‘disability’ is created by society. So this idea that, you know, we love stairs. Well, stairs, (light chuckle), create a disability for those who need a ramp—for whatever reason. So, I operate in a social, it’s also called a social justice model, of disability where disability is viewed as an identity and it’s just as valid and important and impactful as being a person of color, as being a woman, as being LGBTIQ—a number of identities. So, for me, social justice means working with the entirety of diversity and having disability considered part of that and so understanding and believing that people with disabilities are what contribute to wonderfully diverse society; the more diverse it is, the better we have conversations, and work to understand each other and the better we can approach different problems or different ideas. [Music continues for 5 seconds]

AJ: I don’t think that anyone goes into their work day, whether they’re staff or faculty, and go, “I want to make sure students with disabilities feel excluded!” I don’t think anyone does that, but I think there are subtle messages that happen that send that message, and there are ways to work around that. I think one of the main things that I see: we’re taught nowadays for presentations to have some visuals but to only kind of have your main points on your visuals, and then you’re supposed to verbally elaborate on everything. Well, the difficulty with that is someone who has an auditory disability then misses the details of your work in your presentation. So that automatically, then, requires an interpreter or something else to help those with auditory disabilities. Whereas if you use more of a Universal Design style of presenting, where you’re putting your points all on visuals, so you are speaking what is on your slide—and that doesn’t mean you have to read it word for word, but that, you know, what you’re saying is also visually there—we would actually get rid of the need for interpreters because those with auditory disabilities would be able to read along on the slide and still get all of the information that you have.* So I think it’s small, little things like that: where if you don’t do Universal Design, you’re setting a subtle message to students with disabilities that there’s something wrong with them, that, “Hey, how I made this, was for the ‘normal’ people and I need to change things in order for You to be able to understand me,” whereas if someone works with Universal Design, we send a message of, “Hey, what I am doing is for absolutely everyone,” and that’s much more of an inclusive and positive message—not only to people with disabilities but, I think, to everyone. [Music volume increases slightly and continues for 7 seconds]

INTERVIEWER/HOST: That was Bellevue College Disability Resource Center assistant director AJ Duxbury interviewed by me and you’ll hear more from Bellevue College Disability Resource Center’s employees: the executive director as well as the disability specialist. Gonna be hearing from them during the rest of the week so definitely tune in at 4:20(pm) for that. BC is also, the Disability Resource Center is also celebrating the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act with an event on Thursday, July 24th in the Bellevue College art gallery. More information available at www.bellevuecollege.edu/d (as in dog) rc. That’s drc and it’s for you here, on music and ideas, you’ll be hearing more about it tomorrow at 4:20(pm) throughout the week. You can also hear it again on the morning one at 7:30am.

*AJ Duxbury misspoke when she indicated utilizing Universal Design would get rid of the need for interpreters. She should have indicated it would remove a complete reliance on interpreters. The DRC fully recognizes the need for interpreters to assist in cultural and contextual translation as well as spoken and informational translation.

Host: For activist and Bellevue College Disability Resource Center Specialist, Colin Kennedy, having a disability is just one of his many identities. Up next, Colin talks about the fear associated with the word, ‘disability,’ and how many communities are working to remove it. [light jazz music begins, plays for 5 seconds]

Colin: My personal experience as a person with a disability has shaped me immensely, you know, I had a visible, physical disability and that really impacted the way I thought of myself as a person who belonged, or did not belong, in groups and community. I think people with disabilities are very isolated, often, and even though disability is a regular part of the human experience. I always joke because eventually everyone joins our ranks *laughs* if you get old enough, you will be one of us. But I think that contributes to a lot of fear that non-disabled people have around people with disabilities and how to act, and what to do, and… It took me a long time to really come to terms with having a disability and being okay with who I was, and not thinking, “Oh, I should be normal.” [music continues for 4 seconds]

Colin: As far as the stigma with the word, ‘disability,’ and identifying as, ‘disabled,’… I think it–that it’s pervasive. I think that there’s a lot of shame attached to saying you have a disability, I mean, it’s a deficit model: to say disability means you can’t do something; you’re not as good as someone else who doesn’t have a disability. However, that’s not the only point of view around the word, ‘disability.’ I know a lot of people have problems with the word, ‘disability,’ because of that deficit plot, but there’s also a vibrant movement within disability communities that is reclaiming the word disability and, sort of, turning it on its head to have a positive connotation because people with disabilities are innovative *light chuckle* and creative folks, because we have to figure out different ways to do things in a system that is not formulated with us in mind. There’s a vibrant disability cultural movement out there. Many wonderful organizations and people and activists doing work. One of the things I’m most excited about, coming up at Bellevue, is the Disability Post Card Project, which is going to be an anonymous art project where students with disabilities, and people in the larger community, can send in art about what they think about the word, ‘disability’—how it’s affected them, do they think it’s positive, do they think it’s negative, who has inspired them?—and I think that, to use art in social justice movements, and around identity, I think, is one of the most effective ways to connect people and let people see that the disability experience is incredibly broad. 90% of people who have a disability that qualifies under the ADA for accommodations have a non-visible, non-apparent disability—but that’s not what we see reflected in our culture. [music, again, continues for 4 seconds]

Colin: I think the deficit model of disability is utterly pervasive. Pretty much any mainstream or common representation that you’re gonna see about disability is based in that deficit model. Another good example of that would be the inspirational stories of people with disabilities overcoming their disabilities to do something completely mundane. So, you’ll see an entire front page human interest story about a person with a disability who got their driver’s license. “Oh my god, it’s a milestone! They are driving, just like a normal person would!” When, in fact, they’re just driving. They’re a person with a disability who are driving, why is that noteworthy? On the same scale, you’ll get something that would be phenomenal if anyone did it, but the fact that they have a disability makes it extra, extra phenomenal—like, it would be like, “This person climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with one leg. Oh, my god, how inspirational; if they can do it, then we can do it.” Disability functions as a way for non-disabled people to feel better about themselves without actually requiring people without disabilities to do anything to end the isolation and discrimination that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. [music continues for 4 seconds]

Colin: As a person with a disability, I also have a number of other identities that impact my work. I’m a queer individual who’s also transgender, and that’s part of the reason why I’m so passionate about tying in all different identity issues into disability work because we’re never just one thing and that’s part of the problem with the tokenism and the kinds of representations that happen around any identity: you become reduced to that one thing, you become, ‘Oh, that’s just the person who walks with the limp,’ or, you know, ‘Oh, that’s just that person who uses a wheelchair,’ or is, ‘wheelchair-bound,’ which I find highly problematic. I think that anyone who has identities that exist outside of what we might think of as the ‘mainstream,’ or, ‘normal,’ it’s important to really listen to those voices and think, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard of this before, perhaps this is valuable,’ because the devaluing of that is really the crux of any oppression. As far as how my identity as someone who’s queer and trans relate to disability, I think that all three of those identities have, and do have now, key parts in questioning what ‘normal’ is, and I think that’s key when we’re thinking about disability. Who gets to say what is non-disabled and what disabled is—who is making that call? Funnily enough, it’s often, most often, not people with impairments. [music continues for 4 seconds, increases volume then continues for 3 more seconds]

Host: That was Bellevue College Disability Resource Center’s specialist, Colin Kennedy interviewed by KBCS News Director Sonya Green. More information about the Disability Postcard Project and Bellevue College events to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the ADA is available online at bellevuecollege.edu/drc.